Word Pronunciation & Dictionary

shirt

/ʃɜɹt/

Word Rarity Uncommon

Frequency: Zipf frequency 4.63 in modern English

Syllables
shirt
IPA
/ʃɜɹt/
8
Scrabble Score
5
Letters
1
Syllables
5
Unique Chars

Meaning

noun

An article of clothing that is worn on the upper part of the body, often with sleeves that cover some or all of the arms.

noun

A member of the shirt-wearing team in a shirts and skins game.

verb

To cover or clothe with a shirt, or as if with a shirt.

Example Sentences

Etymology

Etymology tree Proto-Indo-European *(s)ker-der.? Proto-Germanic *skertaną Proto-Germanic *skurtaz Proto-Germanic *skurtijǭ Proto-West Germanic *skurtijā Old English sċyrte Middle English schirte English shirt From Middle English schirt, schirte, schuirte, schyrtte, seorte, shearte, shert, shirt, sseorte, from Old English sċyrte (“a short garment; skirt; kirtle”), from Proto-West Germanic *skurtijā, from Proto-Germanic *skurtijǭ (“a short garment, skirt, apron”), from *skurtaz (“short”), from *skertaną (“to cut off”), from Proto-Indo-European *(s)ker- (“to cut off; to divide”). Doublet of skirt. Cognates Cognate with Yola shoorth, skoorth (“shirt”), North Frisian Sjürt (“shirt”), Saterland Frisian Schoarte (“apron”), Dutch schort (“apron”), German Schürze (“apron”), Danish, Norwegian Bokmål, and Norwegian Nynorsk skjorte (“shirt”), Faroese skjúrta (“shirt”), Icelandic skyrta (“shirt”), Swedish skjorta (“shirt”), Irish sciorta (“skirt; strip”), Welsh sgert (“skirt”); also Irish curach, currach (“coracle, currach”), Welsh corwg (“coracle”), Latin carō (“flesh; pulp of a fruit; soft part of a precious stone”), Umbrian 𐌊𐌀𐌓𐌖 (karu, “part”), Ancient Greek κείρω (keírō, “to shave; to waste; to consume; to cut short”), Albanian shqerr (“to tear; to scratch”), Latvian šķērst (“cut dead animal or human so as to expose internal organs”), Lithuanian sker̃sti (“to slaughter; to massacre; to cut”), Belarusian кара́ (kará, “bark; crust”), Bulgarian, Carpathian Rusyn, Macedonian, Russian, and Ukrainian кора́ (korá, “bark”), Czech kůra (“bark( crust; cortex; rind”), Kashubian kóra (“bark; crust”), Lower Sorbian škóra (“bark; crust”), Polish kora (“bark; crust; cortex”), Serbo-Croatian ко̏ра, kȍra (“bark; crust”), Slovak kôra (“bark; crust”), Upper Sorbian skora (“bark; crust”), Armenian քերել (kʻerel, “to scrape, scrub”), Central Kurdish چەرم (çerm, “skin”), Northern Kurdish çerm (“skin”), Ossetian царм (carm, “skin”), Persian چرم (čarm, “leather”), Hittite 𒅗𒊑𒄑𒍣 (kariezzi, “to cover”), Kamkata-viri čom, čum (“skin; hide”), Sanskrit चर्मन् (carman, “skin; pelt”). Doublet of skirt via Old Norse; further related to short.

Origin

Word Breakdown

  • Root: schirt, sċyrte, *skurtijā, *skurtijǭ, *(s)ker-, schirten

Regional Pronunciation

  • American English: /ʃɜɹt/
  • British English: /ʃɜːt/

Inflected Forms

Derived Forms

Phrases

Synonyms

Rhymes With

Questions

How do you pronounce shirt?
The recorded pronunciation is /ʃɜɹt/.
What does shirt mean?
An article of clothing that is worn on the upper part of the body, often with sleeves that cover some or all of the arms.
Where does shirt come from?
It is traced to Middle English.

How to pronounce shirt

  1. Open the pronunciation page — Open the Speakur entry for “shirt”.
  2. Read the phonetic spelling — Read the IPA spelling (/ʃɜɹt/) so you know which sounds to aim for.
  3. Play the audio — Click Play to hear reference audio for “shirt”.
  4. Repeat and practice — Say “shirt” aloud, matching stress and vowels until it feels natural.